Telephone attachment for cars.



- M. J. BARTOL. TELEPHONE ATTACHMENT EOE CARS. APPLIOATIOR FILED MAE. 1'7v 1914.

1,123,979., Patented Jan. 5, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

M. J. BAETOL. TELEPHONE ATTACHMENT FOR CARS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 17, 1914.

L123,9?. Patented Jan.5,1915.

2 BHEETS-SHEET 2.

HE NORRIS PETERS Co. PHOTO-LITHO.. WASHING rON, D. c.

MICHAEL J. BABTGL, OF BEAVERDALE, PENNSYLVANIA.

TELEPIIONE ATTACHMENT FOR CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 5, 1915.

Application filed March 17, 1914. Serial No. 825,380.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MIoI-IAEL J. BARTOL, citizen of the United States, residing at Beaverdale, in the county of Cambria and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Telephone Attachments for Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in telephone systems, the primary object of my invention being the provision of a telephone system by means of which messages may be received by or transmitted from a telephone system carried by a moving train.

In carrying out my invention, I provide line wires or conductors which are mounted along the track and a further object of my invention is to provide movable contact shoes mounted in such a manner that they may be swung into or out of engagement with the line wires, electrical connection between the contact shoes and telephone instrument being provided for, whereby engagement of the shoes with the line wires places the instrument in circuit with the line.

A still further object of my invention is to provide means for locking the shoes either in or out of engagement with the line wires, as the case may be.

With these and other objects in view, my invention will be more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and then specifically pointed out in the claims which are attached to and form a part of this application.

in the drawings: Figure 1 is a fragmentary elevational view of a conventional form of car, parts being broken away to disclose the location of my improved telephone station, the contact shoes in this figure being shown in engagement with the line wires; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view of the contact actuating mechanism of my improved telephone instrument, showing the contacts in raised position; Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4- is a detail perspective view of the contact actuating mechanism removed from all supports; Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view, showing the manner of mounting one of the contact shoes; Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view illustrating the swinging connection between one of the contact carrying arms and its actuating lever.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

In order to insure a clear and accurate understanding of my invention I have illustrated the same in connection with a conventional form of railway car 10 having a floor 11 and movable upon the rails 12 of a track of the usual type, the rails being supported at spaced intervals by ties 13. The line wires 14 and 15 are supported by salt ably spaced brackets 16 carried by the ties, the wires being preferably insulated from these brackets or the brackets being formed of insulating material. These line wires are preferably supported either just outside of the rails of the track or just inside, the former method being that shown in the drawings and the line wires are preferably so mounted as to extend at a level somewhat above that of the rail heads. Because of this arrangement of the line wires, the contact shoes engaging the line wires, which will be later described, will not be liable to injury upon the passage of a train through switches or over railroad crossings as such contact shoes will at no time be lowered sufficiently to strike against any rails.

It will of course be understood that the line *ires, instead of consisting merely of wires, may be made in the form of rods or relatively light rails without in the slight est degree departing from the spirit of my invention. Furthermore, it will be clear that at switches, cross-overs and other like places, the wires or other conductors forming the line may be inclosed in an insulative casing or tubing and passed either beneath the obstructing rails or switch points or through openings formed in the webs thereof, as preferred, being brought up to the ordinary level at the opposite side of the switch or crossing.

Each car 10, making up the train, may be equipped with a telephone instrument adapted for direct connection with a pair of con tact shoes carried by the car and movable into engagement with the line wires, above described, or but one car of each train may be so equipped. Again, one car of each train may be equipped with contact shoes and controlling mechanism therefor and a train carried line electrically connected to these contact shoes extended through the length of the train and connected to a plurality of instruments, one in each car. In the accompanying drawings 1 have illustrated a single telephone instrument 17 of the desk type supported upon a bracket or shelf 13 and having wires 19 and 20 adapted for indirect connection with the line wires 14 and 15 of the system, each of the wires 19 and 20 terminating in a ack or plug 21.

The floor of the car 10 is provided at any suitable point with a slot 22 and a supporting frame or bracket 23 is mounted within the car and over the slot, this bracket, at its upper end, having laterally directed spaced arms forming bearings for a shaft 24, to which a hand lever 25 is secured by one end in such a manner that swinging of the hand lever in a vertical plane will partially rotate the shaft 24. The bracket or frame 23 is provided at its ends with hooks 26 and 27 adapted to lock the hand lever in either of its two positions, these positions being shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The ends of the shaft 24 project beyond the bearings of the bracket and lever arms 28 and 29 are rigidly connected by one end to the extended ends of the shaft in such a manner that swinging of the hand lever 25 will cause resultant swinging of the arms 28 and 29 at either side of the bracket.

Tubular elbows 30 and 31, provided interiorly of their bend with eyes 32, are pivotally mounted as shown at 33 upon the free ends of the levers 28 and 29, respectively, and these elbows are threaded at one end to receive pipe sections or tubes 34- and 35 terminating in heads 36 and 37, each provided with a socket 33 adapted to receive one of the plugs or jacks 21, the jack of the wire 19 seating in the socket of the head 26, while that of the wire 20 seats in the socket of the head 27. The opposite ends of the elbows 30 and 31 are also threaded to receive a pair of tubular contact shoe supporting members or arms, such arms being indicated as a whole by the numerals 39 and 40, respectively. The tubular arm 39 extends through the slot 22 in the car floor at right angles to the tubular portion 34 and is then doubly and reversely looped to provide spaced downwardly directed loops 41 and an intermediate, upwardly directed loop 42. The free end of the tubular member 39 is then extended rearwardly and downwardly at an angle with its terminal bent downwardly to extend at substantially right angles to the line wire 14 when the arm or member 39 is swung to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 4 The tubular member 40 is identical in construction with the member 39 with the exception that immediately at the rear of the last loop 41, it is bent to extend transversely of the car as shown at before being extended downwardly and rearwardly, this of course serving to bring its free terminal in vertical alinement with the line wire 15. The looped portion of the tubular member 40 is supported in a guide 46, similar to the guide 43 and similarly located, while the downwardly and rearwardly inclined portion is seated in a second guide 47, similar to the guide 44 of the member 39 and similarly located. The outer portion of the transversely extending part of the member 45 of the member 40 is supported in a U-shaped guide 48 similar to the guides 43 and 46.

Secured to the terminals of the tubular members 39 and 40 are substantially L- shaped contact shoes 49 and 50 adapted, in a certain position of said members, to engage the line wires 14 and 15, respectively. As best shown in Fig. 5, each of these contact shoes 49 is secured against the rear face of the terminal portion of its supporting member by a bolt 51 passed through the supporting member and through one arm of the contact member and secured by a nut 52, a packing of insulative material 53 being interposed in such a manner as to completely insulate the shoe 49 from its sup porting member. The ends of the supporting members 39 and 40 are preferably closed by plugs 54 to prevent entrance of dirt and moisture. Conductor wires 55 and 56 are led through the tubular contact supporting members 39 and 40, respectively, being connected at their upper ends with the sockets 38 and extended at their lower ends through the walls of the tubular members 39 and 40 and connected to the contact shoes 49 and 50 preferably by the nuts 52. As shown in Fig. 5, these wires are insulated, with the exception of their ends which are bared for connection with sockets.

In describing the operation of my improved telephone system, I will assume that the contact supporting arms 39 and 40, and in fact the whole system, are in normal position. That is, I will assume that the parts occupy the position shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, the hand lever extending toward the right and the contact shoes being conthe contact shoes and sequently in raised position. Moreover, I will assume that the jacks or plugs 21 have been removed from their sockets 38. In order then, to connect the telephone instrument 17 with the line wires 14- and 15, the hook 26 is loosened to release the hand lever 25 which is then swung to the left to occupy the position shown in Figs. 1 and 4 of the drawings. This swinging of the hand lever 25 operates through the levers 28 and 29 to first swing the contact shoe supporting arms 39 and downwardly until the contact shoes lightly engage the line wires 14 and 15, this engagement taking place when the lever is in substantially vertical position. Continued swinging of the lever to the left then acts to raise the upper portion of such contact carrying arms and swing them rearwardly and consequently to depress and draw forwardly the lower terminals of the arms which carry the contact shoes, forcing them into firm engagement with the wires 1% and 15. At this point, it should be noted that the tubing forming the contact shoe supporting arms 39 and 410 is somewhat resilient in order to insure a firm engagement of the contact shoes with the line wire without applying undue strain to the wires and also to insure constant engagement of the shoes and wires, irrespective of slight inequalities in elevation of different portions of the line wires or because of swaying of the car. When the lever has been swung to the position shown in Fig. 1, the hook 27 is moved to engage it and thereby lock the shoes in active position. The jacks 21 of the wires 19 and 20 are then placed in the sockets 38 of their respective heads 36 and 37, thereby connecting the wires 19 and 20 electrically with the line wires 14 and 15 and consequently putting the telephone instrument 17 in circuit with the line when, of course, the telephone may be employed in the usual manner. After telephoning, the jacks 21 are removed from their sockets, and the hand lever 25 released and swung to the opposite position and locked again to support the contact shoes in inactive or raised position, as shown in Fig. 2. It will of course be apparent that the jacks may be continuously left in the sockets if desired, as raising of the contact shoes, of course, breaks the circuit between the telephone instrument and line. However, as considerable swinging movement of the contact shoe supporting arms 39 and 40, is necessary for the proper raising and lowering of their contact shoes, this would necessitate running the wires 19 and 20 with considerable slack and for this reason I prefer to provide a detachable connection between such wires and the wires inclosed in the con tact shoe supporting arms. It will, however, be understood that although I have illustrated and described my improved telephone system in all its details, I do not wish to be limited to such specific details, as various minor changes in the construction, such as the provision of contact rollers in the contact shoes 49 and 50 for engagement with the line wires and like changes, may at any time be made, within the scope of the appended claims, without in the slightest degree departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In a signaling system for trains, the combination with line conductors extending along the track, of a car having a slot in its bottom, swingingly mounted arms extending through the slot, contact shoes carried by the lower ends of the arms and insulated therefrom, said contact shoes being adapted in a certain position of the arms to engage the conductors, conductor wires housed in the arms and insulated therefrom, the conductor wires being electrically connected to the shoes, a signaling instrument, and means for connecting the leads of said instrument to the wires.

2. In a signaling system for trains, the combination with line conductors extending along the track, of a car having a slot in its bottom, swingingly mounted arms extending through the slot, contact shoes carried by the lower ends of the arms and insulated therefrom, said contact shoes being adapted in a certain position of the arms to engage the conductors, conductor wires housed in the arms and insulated therefrom, the conductor wires being electrically connected to the shoes, a signaling instrument, means for connecting the leads of said instrument to the wires, and means for swinging the arms to raise and lower the shoes.

3. In a signaling system for trains, the combination with line conductors extending along the track, of a car having a slot in its bottom, swingingly mounted arms extending through the slot, contact shoes carried by the lower ends of the arms and insulated therefrom, said contact shoes being adapted in a certain position of the arms to engage the conductors, conductor wires housed in the arms and insulated therefrom, the conductor wires being electrically connected to the shoes, a signaling instrument, means for connecting the leads of said instrument to the wires, and means for swinging the arms to raise and lower the shoes, said means including a lever pivoted intermediate its length and pivotally engaging intermediate portions of the arms at one end.

a. A signaling system for trains including tubular arms mounted for vertical swinging movement and extending through a slot in the floor of a car, line conductor engaging contact shoes carried by the lower terminals of the arms and insulated therefrom, means for raising and lowering the arms simulta- In testimony whereof I affix my signature neously, Wires insulated from and inclosed in presence of two witnesses. in the arms and connected to the contact MICHAEL J BARTOL [L S shoes, a signaling instrument, and means de- 5 tachably and electrically connecting the Witnesses:

leads of the signaling instrument With the I. A. LEVINE, Wires. MORRIS LEVINE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

